Caterpillar in the Tree
by clarksonwriter17
Summary: AU. Future Auslly. Based off of Butterfly Fly Away by Miley Cyrus. Summary: It's his turn to put her back to sleep. Her with her big brown eyes that watch him as he tries out the lullaby's tune with her. Eyes that close as he finishes a song that he wrote.


_**A/N: So this came out of nowhere if I'm being honest. I was listening to Butterfly Fly Away by Miley Cyrus and I was like, what if Austin sung the chorus to him and Ally's daughter as a lullaby! And lo and behold, here came this. I think it's pretty good. Kinda short, but I think it's one of my better fanfics.**_

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He wakes with a start as Ally keeps on whacking him with her arm tiredly.

"It's your turn Austin." She mumbles. He moans and turns on his side.

"Austin." She groans. He sighs and sits up in bed, running his fingers through his hair before standing up.

He pads his way lazily out of their bedroom and towards the soft mewls across the hall.

Her cries become louder as he gets closer and closer to her and he gives her a smile as he leans down to pick her up.

"Hey baby girl." He says, swaying her gently back and forth.

Adalyn looks up at him with big brown eyes and her cries start to subside. Austin smiles as she stares contently up at him, her fingers reaching for his t-shirt.

He walks in a slow circle around her nursery, swaying her to the beat of a song that's been bouncing around his head for a while now.

She starts to fuss again and Austin walks over to the rocking chair in the corner and they rock back and forth slowly, Adalyn's cries still not quieting.

He starts to hum the song that he thinks is somewhat decent (but then again, this is the prelude to a song written by a kindergartener) and Adalyn quiets just a little.

"Does somebody wanna be sung to?" He questions quietly as Adalyn grabs his index finger tightly in her own hand.

"_Caterpillar in the tree_," he starts out softly. "_How you wonder who you'll be. Can't go far but you can always dream._" Adalyn's cries finally cease and she watches Austin with rapt attention.

"_Wish you may and wish you might,_" Adalyn's eyes start to droop and Austin smiles. "_Don't you worry, hold on tight. I promise you there will come a day. Butterfly fly away._"

Adalyn's eyes fully close and Austin smiles as he rocks back and forth to the tempo.

"_Butterfly fly away. Got your wings, now you can't stay._" He sings, carefully standing up from the creaky rocking chair. "_Take those dreams and make them all come true._"

"_Butterfly fly away,_" he sings, setting Adalyn into her crib and covering her slightly with a blanket. "*_You've been waiting for this day. __All along you've known just what to do._" He slowly backs out of the nursery as to not wake Adalyn up again.

"_Butterfly, butterfly, butterfly. Butterfly fly away._" He stops as he reaches Adalyn's doorframe.

He watches as the moonlight that fills her room illuminates her crib to show Austin that Adalyn is fully back to sleep.

He smiles and goes to turn around and walk back to his and Ally's bedroom when he feels a pair of arms wrap around his waist.

"What was that?" Ally asks, shock, pride and astonishment evident in her voice.

"I like to think of it as the prelude to The Butterfly Song." He answers meekly, wrapping his arm around Ally's waist.

She leans into him.

"I like it. I like it a lot."

He shrugs and Ally tightens her arms around him.

"Since when did you become the songwriter in this relationship?" She asks, looking up at him. He shrugs again.

"When you told me that you were pregnant with Ads." He says nonchalantly. Ally's eyebrows raise. "I kinda started thinking about the Butterfly Song again." He starts. Austin looks down at Ally and sees that she's looking up at him, her attention focused on him.

"I wanted to have a lullaby to sing to her, one that she'd have as her own so when she sings it to her kids she could say that I always sung it to her when she was a little girl and no one else could say the same." Ally's eyes fill with tears _(he blames it on the hormones. They still haven't fully evened out yet.)_ and Austin looks back at the crib that holds their daughter.

"So I kept on thinking about caterpillar's which led to trees and I connected it to the Butterfly Song and wah-la." His left hand lifts up for effect. "Out came..." He trails off, unsure of what his lullaby should be called.

"Caterpillar in the Tree." Ally says and Austin looks down at her. She looks away from the crib that she had been looking at and she looks up at him.

"It can kinda be like the prelude to the Butterfly Song." Austin smiles because he's still amazed at just how in sync they are with each other; "and the caterpillar comes before the butterfly so.." She trails off.

Austin captures her lips with his own and Ally smiles into the kiss before pulling away.

"Yeah. It does." He smiles before turning his attention back to the moonlit crib.

Ally takes a small step forward into the nursery and Austin follows as they take light footsteps towards Adalyn's crib.

They stop at the edge and look down and watch her small chest move up and down. Ally leans into his side and Austin tightens his arm around her.

They stand this way for about five minutes when Austin lets out a quiet sigh before kissing the top of Ally's head.

"We should probably go back to bed. We're gonna be up again in two hours anyway." He murmurs against her hair. Ally quietly sighs before leaning down to press a light kiss to Adalyn's forehead, her lips lingering there.

She pulls back and they both walk as quietly as they can across the nursery floor and across the hall, climbing into their respective sides of their bed.

Austin pulls Ally by her waist until her back meets his chest and he sighs contently into the crook of her neck.

"Night Als." He murmurs against her neck. He waist for her to respond when he hears her light snore and he knows she is out like a light.

He inhales the scent that can only be described as Ally _(strawberries, vanilla, music, happiness and a hint of baby powder)_ and does so until he is almost lulled to sleep.

That is until a soft mewling comes from the baby monitor besides him once again.

He gives a slightly disappointed, slightly content sigh before throwing the covers off of him and walking over to the nightstand, turning down the baby monitor so Ally won't wake up again.

He starts to hum '_Caterpillar in the Tree'_ quietly under his breath as he pads across the hall, reaching into Adalyn's crib for the second time that night.

He sings softly and the cycle begins once more, the caterpillar becoming a butterfly once again.


End file.
